Artifacts in plex wall case, on loan courtesy of:
Front page (copy) of the Washington Daily News - headlines reporting
the North Korean seizure of the U.S.S. Pueblo, 1968--Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, Austin, TexasMao Cap --Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, Yorba Linda, CaliforniaMao ButtonMao's "little red book" - one in Chinese, late 1960s
to early 1970s; and one in English, 1972. The Chinese
version was the personal copy of a Red Guard stationed in Beijing. His
daughter, who attended the University of Iowa, presented this copy to
her professor, Dr. Phil Ecklund.--Phil Ecklund, Iowa City, IowaLife Magazine - "Torture by Red Guards," June 1967--Maureen Harding, Iowa City, Iowa

Mao's return to power in 1966 put an end to "creeping capitalism."
To purify the revolution Mao appealed to young people, who nearly destroyed
Chinese society by pitting one faction against another, even children
against their parents. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese were executed,
sent to jail, or exiled to re-education camps. Yet, surprisingly, by the
early 1970s the political tide began to turn in favor of capitalistic
America.

As Mao toppled Deng Xiaoping and others from power, his great "Cultural
Revolution" proceeded to devastate Chinese society. His call to young
people caused 11 million "Red Guards" to quit school and flock
to Beijing to attack Mao's rivals. Children turned in their parents. Teachers
were humiliated, beaten, even killed. Artists and writers were tortured.
Books, artwork, and records were destroyed.

When faced with imminent anarchy, the Peoples Liberation Army restored
order and sent the Red Guards back to communes all over China. This mass
communal effort was coined "The Green University," but with
minimal education beyond Mao's "little red book" of quotations,
these youth were later to be called "The Lost Generation."

After 1969, the emphasis was on calm reconstruction and a rebuilding
of the Communist Party. The Party also marked the rise of two opposing
forces: Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, and Premier Zhou Enlai.

Zhou forged an alliance with moderates within the civilian bureaucracy
and the armed forces in 1971. And since China was continuing their ongoing
dispute with Moscow, Zhou looked to improve relations with the West, particularly
the United States. By then Mao's health was failing, and he viewed himself
as an elder statesman rather than a policy-making activist. In 1972, Mao
ultimately helped to raise "the Bamboo Curtain."